No Regrets
by OCDdegrassi
Summary: When the sorting hat gives Percy a choice, he doesn't choose the way everyone expected him to. Sorting AU/Slytherin!Percy.


**Title:** No Regrets  
**Author:** OCDdegrassi  
**Pairing:** Gen  
**Rating:** K+  
**Warning:** Sorting AU, Angst, Identity Crisis, Slytherin!Percy  
**Note: **It's my head-canon that the sorting hat let Percy choose which house he was going to be in, and he chose Gryffindor because everyone else in his family had been there. However, I have often thought that he would have been better in Slytherin, so that's why I wrote this. _Italics_ are Percy's thoughts. Written for the "AU Sorting Competition."

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As the Hogwarts Express pulled out of King's Cross Station, Percy couldn't help but feel disappointed when Bill left to sit with the other prefects and Charlie with the Quidditch team. He knew that they had their own lives, but he was nervous about going to Hogwarts for the first time. He had never been away from home for more than a day before, and he still had so many questions about what to expect.

It didn't matter now though; he was on his own. He sighed and found an empty compartment, ready to spend the rest of the ride reading his book, but not five minutes later, the compartment door opened again. A boy with brown hair and a friendly smile walked in. He looked to be the same age as Percy.

"Do you mind if I sit here?" His accent was Scottish, and he sounded slightly nervous, so Percy assumed that he was a first year too. He closed his book quickly and gestured to the seat across from him.

"Not at all. Please do." Hopefully this boy would be in the same house as him; it would be nice to know someone in his dormitory. Perhaps he would even be Percy's first friend at Hogwarts. He didn't have the chance to play with many other kids at home, as he was usually stuck with his brothers and sister, so he was excited about the possibility.

"I'm Oliver Wood," the boy said, and Percy nodded in greeting.

"Percy Weasley." Oliver's eyes widened comically.

"Charlie Weasley's brother?!" Percy felt his heart sink. He hated it when people referred to him as Bill or Charlie's brother. It happened all the time, but it never ceased to bother him. He was his own person – not just their little brother. He didn't want to be defined by them. He nodded though, and Oliver was practically bouncing in his seat, eyes dancing with glee.

"I've heard about him! He's a great Quidditch player! I can't believe you're related to him! I want to be on the team, but first years never make it. It's not fair! Do you play too? Are you as good as he is?" The boy asked excitedly, and Percy swallowed.

"I like Quidditch, but I'm not very good at it," he answered truthfully. It was always a bit of a sore spot for him. Even Bill, who chose not to play on the team so that he could focus on schoolwork and prefect duties, was better than Percy. Percy had zero coordination, and it always felt so unfair to him. The rest of his family was talented on a broom. Why did he have to be so different?

Oliver's face fell for a moment, and Percy felt like he had already failed some kind of test. The other boy seemed determined to go on, obviously trying to ignore how disappointed he was that Percy didn't live up to the expectations set forth by his brother's greatness. Percy was used to that by now.

"Well, I can't wait until I make the team! Gryffindor will win the cup this year for sure!" The conversation continued politely, but it felt strained and forced, though that could have been because Percy's mood had drastically dampened. He was suddenly aware that he was always going to be Bill and Charlie's shadow at Hogwarts, just like he was at home.

By the time they reached the castle, Percy was feeling rather glum, but he tried to ignore that in favor of taking in the scenes around him. The water on the lake glistened beautifully, and the castle itself was like something from a painting.

His nerves were returning to him as they approached the Great Hall, and they only got worse when the doors opened. There was so many people staring at them, and it was overwhelming. This was a really important moment; it was the moment that would define who he was for the rest of his time here. It was terrifying to have such a large audience for it.

The wait was agonizing as he watched most of the students get sorted (noticing that Oliver had been placed in Gryffindor) before his name was finally called. Percy's heart was racing as he sat on the stool. The hat was dropped over his eyes, and all he could see was black. He was hyperaware of his own breathing that seemed to shatter the silence around him.

"Hmm," the hat spoke in his ear, and even though Percy was expecting it, he was still startled enough to jump slightly. "What have we here? Another Weasley. Ah, but more difficult than the others. Very interesting. There's bravery here, and intelligence, with ambition – a thirst to prove yourself. So where shall I put you?"

Percy gulped, aware that his brothers never took so long to be sorted; the hat had called Gryffindor almost before it was placed on their heads. Seeing his train of thoughts, the hat answered his silent question.

"That's because you are different from the rest of your family, though you already know that. Hmm, you could be good in Ravenclaw, yes, but you could be great in Slytherin," he said in Percy's ear. Percy took a deep breath. _Not Slytherin_, he thought as loudly and forcefully as he could. If he was sorted into Slytherin, his family would hate him; not to mention how disappointed his parents would be. His mom would probably cry.

"Not Slytherin, eh?" responded the hat. "I think you should reconsider. You could be great, you know. Slytherin will help you on the way to greatness." Percy was beginning to despair. _Gryffindor_, he desperately begged.

"Yes, you could be in Gryffindor," the hat responded, and Percy exhaled in relief, but it was short-lived as the hat continued speaking. "But you will never truly belong there. I can see it. It's all here, in your head. You will suffer from loneliness, for no one there will ever understand you the way Slytherins would." The comment made Percy hesitate.

What if the hat was right? What if he went into Gryffindor and was miserable? His family already didn't understand him, so why should he assume that any of the other Gryffindors would? He wanted his family to be proud of him, but he also didn't want to sacrifice his happiness for it. He could hear the other students in the hall whispering about him being a hatstall, and he felt pressured to choose, but he still wasn't sure.

"I will not put you where you do not wish to be, but you must make a choice: follow your family's path or create your own?" The hat asked wisely.

A moment later, the hat's voice reverberated throughout the hall as he called out, "SLYTHERIN!" The Great Hall was deathly quiet as Percy took the hat off. He stood up, feeling shaky. Everyone seemed too stunned to do anything, including Professor McGonagall, who looked at Percy as if he had grown two heads. His cheeks burned, and he kept his head down as he made his way over to the Slytherin table, which suddenly seemed a million miles away.

Finally, a quiet applause began from the Slytherins that steadily grew louder until Percy reached the table and sat down. He glanced at his brothers and saw the confusion and disappointment in their eyes, and he immediately looked away. He couldn't handle that right now; it made him second-guess himself, and it was too late for that. He had made his choice. He just hoped that it was the right one.

The boys sitting around him were all first years too, and Percy knew that they would be sharing a dormitory for the next seven years, but he was too nervous to say anything. What if they hated him because he was a Weasley? He began to panic, but he was saved from his self-doubt by the boy on his left, who held out his hand.

"I'm Terence." Percy breathed a sigh of relief and smiled gratefully as he shook the boy's hand. Terence gave him a sympathetic smile, and some of Percy's fears were alleviated when he realized that Terence wasn't as scary and mean as Percy's brothers had always described the Slytherins to be.

"Percy," he replied. The other boys around him introduced themselves as Adrian and Miles, and on the other side of Terence, a larger boy grunted out that his name was Marcus. He was in his second year and rather intimidating, but Percy tried to focus on the three boys in his year.

They all seemed friendly enough, but the atmosphere was still tense. No one had ever heard of a Weasley in Slytherin, and people were confused as to how to react. Even Percy wasn't sure what he should be doing.

When the sorting was finally over, he focused on Dumbledore's speech. He could have sworn that the headmaster looked at him several times with a twinkle in his eye, but he must have been imaging it. It was a relief when the food finally appeared before them, because Percy's stomach was growling from hunger by then.

"So Percy, do you like Quidditch?" Miles asked, biting a piece of chicken. All eyes were on him, and Percy suddenly felt like he was being tested again – just like he had been with Oliver on the train. They were expecting him to be a good player like his brother, and once they found out that he wasn't, they were going to lose interest in talking to him. He resisted the urge to sigh. _Here we go again, _he thought sadly. _So much for finding my own path_.

"Umm, yes. I'm not very good at it, but I like to watch it," he replied quietly, trying desperately to keep his voice from shaking. To his surprise, no one seemed disappointed by his statement at all. In fact, they seemed to take it as encouragement to keep talking. Terence launched into a rant about the Falmouth Falcons, and everyone else joined in. They even asked his opinion about different teams, and Percy began to feel warmth spread throughout his body from the attention.

Being one of seven children, and more soft-spoken than the rest of his family, he was used to being left out of conversations or overlooked. It felt nice to be included for once. His shoulders relaxed, and he smiled as he commented on the Ballycastle Bats. Just like that, the tension had been broken and disappeared. It was so much easier than Percy thought it would be, and the conversation flowed naturally for the rest of the meal.

He was relieved when his housemates didn't compare him to his older brothers or ask him questions about them. In fact, they didn't even mention them. He felt like he could just be himself, without their shadows hanging over his head. It was so incredibly freeing.

Percy was pleasantly surprised to find that the dormitories weren't as dark and damp as he had imagined they would be, considering that they were located in the dungeons. The silver and green decorations were subtle and not overly gaudy, and it was quiet and peaceful. There was no yelling and screaming like he was used to at the Burrow, and he could actually hear himself think.

Adrian's mother had sent what seemed like every kind of candy imaginable in his trunk, and Percy was decidedly aware that his family would never be able to afford that. Some of the fancier candies probably cost more than his entire wardrobe. He hadn't even thought about it when he chose Slytherin, but now he realized that this was just another way that he differed from his roommates. They were all from rich families, and Percy's family was so poor that he was wearing Bill's old robes. It was embarrassing.

Yet somehow, that didn't seem to matter to the other boys. They weren't treating him any differently, even though he was sure that his family's financial status was obvious from the state of his robes and second-hand books. It was surprising. His older brothers always told him that Slytherins were rich snobs, but Terence, Miles, and Adrian didn't seem like they were.

Adrian shared his candy with everyone, and they stayed up late, eating and talking about what they thought classes were going to be like. It was nice, and Percy felt comfortable with these people – the same people that his family had always led him to believe were downright evil. It was strange to see how wrong his family's perception had been. He didn't understand it.

When they finally climbed into their beds, Percy couldn't fall asleep right away. His mind was racing, and he stared at the ceiling as he tried to process everything that had happened that day. It was certainly unexpected, but not necessarily in a bad way. When the hat called out Slytherin, Percy immediately began to doubt his choice, but now he was confident that he had made the right decision.

Still, it didn't make the situation with his family any easier. He wondered if his parents would send him a howler or ignore him all together. He hoped neither. He silently wished that his mom wouldn't cry either. He didn't want to disappoint them, but he couldn't live for them either. Truthfully, he felt more at home in the Slytherin dormitories at that moment than he had ever felt at the Burrow.

He knew that he would never fit in with his family now, but he was beginning to accept that perhaps he never would have anyway, even if he did choose Gryffindor. He still loved them; he always would, and he hoped that they would always love him – no matter what. Maybe eventually they would even be able to overcome the hatred between Slytherin and Gryffindor. He knew that dream was a long way off - if it ever happened at all - but it was still nice to think about.

Percy knew that he was going to lose something when he chose Slytherin, but he had a feeling that he was going to find himself, and he couldn't regret that.

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**A/N:** So what did you think? Is anyone interested in reading a sequel? If so, it would include a slash pairing, so which one would you like to see: Percy/Marcus, Percy/Adrian, Percy/Terence, Percy/Miles, etc.? Either way, reviews are always lovely.


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